Obama gets bump in national polls

Fresh off last week’s Democratic National Convention, President Obama has stretched his lead over Mitt Romney among nationwide voters, according to polls released Monday.

Polls by Gallup and Rasmussen both show Mr. Obama with a 5-point lead over the Republican presidential nominee, exceeding the margins shown in virtually every major presidential poll over the past month.

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A CNN/Opinion Research poll released Monday shows Mr. Obama leading Mr. Romney 52 percent to 46 percent. The network and polling firm released a poll last week — before the DNC but after the Republican National Convention — that showed the candidates tied at 48 percent.

Mr. Obama has led in most polls throughout the year, but Mr. Romney appeared to draw to within a virtual tie last month after his selection of Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan as his running mate.

The president now appears to be getting the post-convention boost that typically comes to presidential candidates, while polls have shown that Mr. Romney received little benefit following the Republican convention.

A poll by Gallup last week found that his support fell by 1 percentage point in the days after accepting the GOP nomination, making him just the third candidate since 1964 not to get a post-convention bounce.

The other two were 1972 Democratic nominee George McGovern and 2004 Democratic nominee John Kerry.

The Romney campaign sent a memo to supporters Monday, asking them not to get “too worked up” about the recent polls.

“The reality of the Obama economy will reassert itself as the ultimate downfall of the Obama presidency, and Mitt Romney will win the race,”wrote Romney pollster Neil Newhouse.